'Ask Amy' To Read From Book At W&m

Asked about her life these days, Amy Dickinson replies that it is "pretty complicated."

Two years ago she was a single woman with a daughter in college. Now re-married to a father of four, she finds herself keeping track of a much larger family at age 50. As the author of the popular syndicated advice column "Ask Amy," Dickinson gets paid to help others to negotiate the road maps of their daily lives. Now she regards her own situation philosophically.

"It's ironic how I seem to have stepped into one of my own columns," she said with a laugh. "Just because I'm an advice columnist, that doesn't mean my own life is perfect. It doesn't mean I don't need advice, and it doesn't mean that I don't take it."

Almost seven years have passed since Dickinson began doing an advice column at the Chicago Tribune following the death of the legendary Ann Landers. She muses that she never thought she would stick with it this long, that it's the longest she's ever held a job in her life.

But she says she has come to thoroughly enjoy the challenges and rewards that come with the job.

"To a certain extent, my life has changed by writing this column," she says. "I think I've become much more thoughtful in my own behavior. I do, in my own life, what I do for readers - I sit and think and try to thoughtfully weigh my options and the possible ramifications. I'm more careful than I used to be, and that's been a gift."

Dickinson will be in Williamsburg on Friday, at the College of William and Mary's Swem Library for an event that will include reading from "The Mighty Queens of Freeville," her memoir of life as a divorced mom raising a daughter with the values she learned in her small hometown in upstate New York. Her daughter, William and Mary junior Emily Mason, will join her at the event.

On the original book tour, when readers would ask what Emily thought about a particular chapter, Dickinson would sometimes call her daughter and put her on speaker phone. But this week's appearance at William and Mary will be their first joint event for "The Might Queens of Freeville," and Dickinson is looking forward to it.

"I'll probably share the chapter that has to do with choosing colleges, or something that the audience will identify with, and then I'll invite Emily up to take questions," Dickinson says. "She can give me a hard time, do whatever she wants. It might be payback time."

For her interview with the Daily Press last week, Dickinson was speaking by phone from the small home in Freeville, N.Y., that figures prominently in her book. She does much of her work from there, with regular trips to Chicago.

She says both her daughter and their small hometown have been receptive to their portrayals in the book. She sought Emily's approval to tell their story, and she worked hard to reward her daughter's trust. Her neighbors in Freeville, she says, understood that her intention was "to celebrate a very ordinary place that reminds a lot of people of where they're from."

Those two elements in her life - her family and her hometown - play a key role in shaping the advice she gives every day in her "Ask Amy" columns.

"All I can do is translate my own life experience, and my attitudes and my values, into the responses I give," Dickinson says. "That's what readers get from me."

NEWS TO USE

Amy Dickinson, author of the advice column "Ask Amy," will be at the Swem Library on the campus of the College of William and Mary at 4 p.m. Friday. She will read from her memoir "The Mighty Queens of Freeville." The event is free. To make reservations, or for more information, call 221-7872.